Martingale Asset Management L P Decreases Holdings in Nordic American Tankers Limited $NAT

Key Points

• Martingale Asset Management L P significantly reduced its holdings in Nordic American Tankers Limited by 86.5% during the first quarter, leaving them with only 27,300 shares valued at $67,000.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend from $0.06 to $0.07, representing an annual yield of 9.3%, despite having a high dividend payout ratio of 164.71%.
• Recent analyst ratings for Nordic American Tankers include a downgrade to "sell" and a target price from Jefferies Financial Group set at $3.00, with an average consensus rating of "Hold" at a target price of $3.50.

Martingale Asset Management L P reduced its stake in Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT - Free Report) by 86.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,300 shares of the shipping company's stock after selling 174,200 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P's holdings in Nordic American Tankers were worth $67,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Nordic American Tankers by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,787,400 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $9,468,000 after purchasing an additional 13,300 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP increased its position in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 88.0% during the first quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 3,135,619 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $7,714,000 after buying an additional 1,467,916 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,678,423 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $6,696,000 after buying an additional 246,365 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Nordic American Tankers by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,376,932 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $3,442,000 after buying an additional 44,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Nordic American Tankers in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,150,000. 44.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NAT shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $3.00 target price on shares of Nordic American Tankers in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nordic American Tankers from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $3.00.

Nordic American Tankers Price Performance

NAT traded up $0.11 on Monday, reaching $3.12. The company had a trading volume of 2,446,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,784,391. Nordic American Tankers Limited has a 52-week low of $2.13 and a 52-week high of $3.83. The company has a market cap of $659.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.50 and a beta of -0.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.66.

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The shipping company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $40.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $53.35 million. Nordic American Tankers had a return on equity of 2.64% and a net margin of 7.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nordic American Tankers Limited will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Nordic American Tankers Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This is a boost from Nordic American Tankers's previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Nordic American Tankers's payout ratio is currently 400.00%.

Nordic American Tankers Profile

Nordic American Tankers Limited, a tanker company, acquires and charters double-hull tankers in Bermuda and internationally. It operates a fleet of 20 Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.